We woke up to beautiful skies.... totally cloud free. We decided, despite the bear warning, to take a 4 or so mile hike up to Ptarmigan Falls and Lake. We took off with rain jackets (didn't need them, but it seemed so hard to believe after the snow the previous day) and lunch consisting of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (or as Justin said "perfect bear food").
The trail took us up along a beautiful ridge line. Then, after some wandering through some trees, we arrived at the falls.
Justin and Nicole at the top of Ptarmigan Falls
There we ate lunch before setting off on the next section of the hike. I knew from the elevation numbers that it would be more of a climb, but boy did it kick my butt. We went pretty slow, resting every few minutes. But, eventually, we made it.
I sat down by the ice filled lake with my long sleeve shirt soaked in cold water over my head while Justin climed another 600 ft in less than a mile. He was rewarded by this view, an encounter with a marmot and mountain goats and a view of the valley of the other side.
On the way back, we saw some bighorn sheep up above us that we had seen on the way up. While I was visiting the pit toilet half way down, Justin had a doe walk across the path 4 yards or so away. We spotted 3 bears down in a meadow below the trail 3/4 of the way down. Everything was beautiful the entire way!
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